Chairman Mo Does His Damn Thing

What a strange man Mark Hughes is. Sacked by Manchester City, he was becoming a forgotten man when I rescued him to become manager of Fulham Football Club.

Even when results were bad, I did not put pressure on him. I gave him every support — financial, moral and personal.

He fully negotiated a two-year extension to his contract. On the day he was due to sign, he walked out without the courtesy of a proper explanation.

And now he insults the club, saying it lacks ambition, and the players who delivered an 8th. position finish last season and a place in the Europa League.

He is not just disrespectful but entirely wrong. Fulham has just announced plans for a splendid new riverside stand that will substantially increase the capacity of Craven Cottage.

In every aspect of its work, Fulham is a progressive club with a top manager in Martin Jol, the man we had really wanted when Hughes was appointed.

We shall endeavour to prosper without him simply because, when the challenge came, it was not the Club but Mark Hughes who lacked the courage and ambition to take on the task of leadership. If people are looking for a flop, they only have to [ed: look?] no further than the man who has lost his spark.

Fantastic. Cop that Sparky. I think he’s also right. If Mark Hughes is really ambitious, then he needs to realise that he still needs to prove himself, by putting in some solid years of management, and showing that he can take ANY club, and build it into a high performing club. Doesn’t mean they have to win the league – they just have to be a lot better than when he came in. Another 2 years at Fulham would have gone a long way to doing that for him. What he lacks most of all is patience.

SOLD OUT!

SOLD OUT!

Reviews

"This is an enjoyable and perceptive romp through the career of the greatest ever Fulham manager. Whilst the latter stage of Hodgson's career will be familiar to football fans in England, the book sheds interesting light on what I suspect is the much less well-known earlier phase of his coaching & management career in other parts of Europe. His image has become a somewhat avuncular and gentlemanly one, but what does come out in the book is Hodgson's ambition and steeliness when needed. Fulham fans (of whom I'm obviously one) were gutted when he left to take over at Liverpool, but although his football manager trajectory has been a little unconventional you can see from this bio that Hodgson's eyes were always on the big prize. Noone expects England to win the World Cup in Brazil, but anyone who can take Fulham to the Europa League Final should not be written off lightly. A good read."

Reviews

"An excellent book - thoroughly researched and well written. A really enjoyable read. Fantastic value too at only £3. I wholeheartedly recommend it."

Reviews

"A fabulous read that covers Roy Hodgson's career up to getting the England job in more detail than anything else I've read. Some great insights into how Roy has developed as a coach & a manager that will be of interest to any football fan but particularly those whose clubs he managed."